Walter “Ball” Smith, publisher of the New York Beacon, suddenly passed away at the age of 83 in Miami on Nov. 10, reports Amsterdam News. He served as CEO of the African-American community newspaper, which he operated for 26 years. He also published the Philadelphia Observer.

According to the article, Smith purchased full control of the Beacon in 1981, then called Big Red News – the largest circulated African-American weekly at the time – before the name change in 1983.

“You have to say something to the readers,” he said. Adhering to the advice of this civil rights partisan, The New York Beacon reflects the voices of many editorialists as well as Smith’s weekly views. It concentrates on providing general news to the African-American community of New York City and its five boroughs —Brooklyn, Bronx, Manhattan, Staten Island and Queens. (…)

In 1991 Smith founded the Northeast Publishers Association, which brought together the city’s African-American newspapers under one umbrella “to better serve New York’s communities and to enhance the economics of its member papers.” He firmly believed in the ability of newspapers to preserve the community’s stories.

“One thing we can rest assured of is the news that we gather and the news that we present is just as relevant today as it was in the ’80s,” he said. “Black newspapers record Black history. That information is still in demand; we just have to deliver it to today’s social media society. We’re trying to keep abreast of the technology of delivering news.”

As the White House urged Congress to withhold $600 million in nutrition assistance to Puerto Rico, officials responded angrily that this is only the latest in a series of President Trump’s attempts to stop the flow of federal aid to the island, El Nuevo Día reports. Political analyst Domingo Emanuelli found the Trump government's actions “barbaric,” and urged Puerto Rican Republicans to reconsider their allegiance. San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz said: “I shouted against Trump’s abuses from the start while others were chummy with him. Trump is not the plantation owner and we are not his slaves.” Link to original story →

The Indigenous Peoples March being held in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 18, a day ahead of the Women's March, will bring together groups from Puerto Rico to South America and Central America, reports Remezcla, to focus attention on issues from voter suppression to human trafficking to police brutality to what is called an “environmental holocaust” by activists. “I think it’s a collective cry for help because we’re in a time of crisis that we have not seen in a very long time,” says Nathalie Farfan, an Ecuadorean Indigenous woman and event organizer. Link to original story →

After vowing to create a more inclusive school system in North Carolina, the Durham Board of Education introduced a new department of second language services to serve newly-arrived immigrants who don’t speak English as a first language, Qué Pasa Noticias reports. One of the main goals of the initiative will be to coordinate a translation and interpretation system to help families participate in their children’s education. “As our Latinx population keeps growing we keep opening our schools’ doors to those arriving from all over the world,” said Superintendent Pascal Mubenga. Link to original story →

With Sen. Kamala Harris expected to announce her decision on a presidential run, The American Bazaar asks members of the Indian-American community about the potential candidacy of the California native. While some celebrated the possibility of Harris, who is of Jamaican-Indian descent, running amid the current political atmosphere, others say the country is "still not ready for a female president and certainly not a non-white." Link to original story →